Written by

Jocelyn Benson

Detroit Free Press guest writer

Jocelyn Benson / Wayne State University

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Election laws and reforms should be aimed at making it easier to vote and harder to cheat. Yet in the years following a 2008 presidential election that saw a dramatic increase in voter turnout, several states enacted a flurry of legislation that cumulatively stands to increase barriers to voting under the banner of addressing voter fraud — which evidence suggests is rare to nonexistent.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court reasserted the federal government’s constitutional role in protecting voters against nefarious state efforts to increase barriers to participation when it overturned a provision in Arizona law that made it more difficult for U.S. citizens to register to vote.

The law, which required documented proof of citizenship before a citizen could register to vote, was rejected because it illegally expanded voter registration requirements beyond what is permitted under federal law. That was good news for more than 30,000 citizens in Arizona who were eligible to vote but could not do so under the new law.

Notably, the court did not outright reject efforts by states to secure and protect the elections process. In fact, it encouraged and endorsed them — it simply required that the federal government review and approve of any additional requirements to voter registration that states choose to impose. In this case, Arizona could provide no evidence that ineligible voters were registering under the previous system, despite significant evidence that thousands of eligible voters were denied registration under the new system. Further, there was little the state could show to indicate that its new system would curb the potential for ineligible voters to participate in the process.

Arizona’s experience is similar to what Michigan experienced last August, when the secretary of state quietly attempted to circumvent a gubernatorial veto and require every voter to take an oath reaffirming their citizenship prior to receiving their ballot. There was little evidence that this would in any way stop noncitizens from voting, but plenty to suggest it would lead to problems at the polls. Indeed, confusion, controversy and inefficiency ensued with many voters — all of whom declared their citizenship when they registered —wondering why they needed to reaffirm their citizenship a second time. Ultimately, a federal judge overturned the effort as an unconstitutional ploy that frustrated the democratic process.

Every office, branch and level of government has a responsibility to protect our democracy. On Monday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed and strengthened the federal government’s constitutional authority to ensure those protections. It’s a victory for American voters everywhere.

Jocelyn Benson, who ran for Michigan secretary of state in 2010, is the dean of the Wayne State University Law School and former director of the Michigan Center for Election Law.